Cycling
Cycling is a very popular sport in Belgium. It is governed by the Royal Belgian Cycling League, which is split between the Dutch-speaking WBV and the French-speaking FCWB. Many Belgian cyclists have been successful, and some of the greatest cycle races take place in Belgium, especially in road bicycle racing, though other bicycle racing sports as mountain bike racing or track cycling also count a number of Belgian champions and races. The best Belgian cyclist of all times, Eddy Merckx, nicknamed the Cannibal, has won the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia 5 times each, won the Vuelta a España once, the UCI Road World Championship 3 times, had many classic cycle race wins and set the hour record, among other achievements. Belgium has been one of the most successful countries in road cycling since the origins, with one of the oldest races being held in Belgium, Liège–Bastogne–Liège since 1892.
At the Olympic Games, Belgium has won 3 gold medals for road cycling, with 2 victories for the Belgium Men's team time trial (at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics) and one for André Noyelle for the individual race. Belgium has had the most World Championships gold medals (25) with 3 victories by Rik Van Steenbergen and Eddy Merckx and 2 by Georges Ronsse, Briek Schotte, Rik Van Looy and Freddy Maertens. Belgian cyclists have also performed very well in the 3 big tours. Ten cyclists have won in total 18 times the Tour de France, making of Belgium the second country with the most Tour de France wins behind France. Besides Eddy Merckx, Philippe Thys won the most prestigious tour 3 times while Firmin Lambot and Sylvère Maes won it twice. The latest Belgian winner at the Tour de France however was Lucien Van Impe in 1976. At the Giro d'Italia, Belgium has had 7 wins, being the second country to have the most wins after Italy. Michel Pollentier and Johan De Muynck (the latest Belgian to win the Giro in 1978) are with Eddy Merckx the 3 Belgian winners of this tour. Belgium also has had 7 wins at the Vuelta a España, with 2 wins by Gustaaf Deloor, the first winner of this tour in 1935 and 1936. The latest winner of the Spain tour was Freddy Maertens in 1977.
Many Belgian cyclists have won one of the 5 monument cycle races. At the Tour of Flanders, Belgium counts 68 wins in 96 editions with 3 wins for Achiel Buysse, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw and Tom Boonen. Roger De Vlaeminck holds the record of wins at Paris–Roubaix together with Tom Boonen (4), and Belgium is the most successful country in this race with 55 wins in 110 editions. Liège–Bastogne–Liège was won 59 times on 98 by Belgian cyclists. Eddy Merckx holds the record of the most individual wins (5). At the Giro di Lombardia, Belgium counts 12 titles in 105 editions, with only Italy performing better. Milan – San Remo was won 7 times by Eddy Merckx, who holds the record of the most wins, and Belgium has won 20 times on 103, being the second most successful country after Italy in this race. In opposition to the big tours, which were not won anymore by Belgians since 1978, cyclists from Belgium are still being successful in the monument races. At Paris–Roubaix, Tom Boonen has won 4 times and Johan Museeuw 3 times since 1996, and Peter Van Petegem and Johan Van Summeren have also won the race once each. At the Tour of Flanders, Belgium has 12 wins since 1993, with 3 by Johan Museeuw and Tom Boonen, 2 by Peter Van Petegem and Stijn Devolder and 1 by Andreï Tchmil and Nick Nuyens. In the other 3 monuments, Belgians has been less successful recently, with Andreï Tchmil being the only Belgian winner of Milan – San Remo in 1999 since Fons De Wolf in 1981. Philippe Gilbert has been the only winner of the Giro di Lombardia since Fons De Wolf in 1980, with wins in 2009 and 2010 and only 4 Belgians have won Liège–Bastogne–Liège since Joseph Bruyère in 1978: Eric Van Lancker in 1990, Dirk De Wolf in 1992, Frank Vandenbroucke in 1999 and Philippe Gilbert in 2011.
Among the best-known road races in Belgium, 2 out of the 5 monuments of cycling are the Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Other classic one day races in Belgium are La Flèche Wallonne and Gent–Wevelgem both part of the UCI World Tour, as well as Paris–Brussels, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Grand Prix de Wallonie, Dwars door Vlaanderen and E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke. The best-known stage-races in Belgium are the Tour of Benelux, created in 2005 and the Tour of Belgium. Belgium has currently two professional cycling teams performing in the UCI ProTour: Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Lotto-Belisol.
In mountain bike, Filip Meirhaeghe has won the 2002 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and the 2003 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships and was silver-medalist at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In mountain bike trials, Kenny Belaey has won the 26-inch wheel trial World Cup in 2002, 2005 and 2006. In cyclo-cross, Belgian competitors have gained 25 gold medals at the UCI Cyclo-cross Men World Championships since 1950 and 54 medals overall, making it the best country in cyclo-cross, ahead of France with 10 gold medals out of 34 medals. Eric De Vlaeminck has the most world title in cyclo-cross with 7 World Cup wins between 1966 and 1973. Other multiple Belgian world champions are Roland Liboton (4 titles), Mario De Clercq and Erwin Vervecken (3) and Bart Wellens (2). In track cycling, Matthew Gilmore and Etienne De Wilde won the gold medal of Men's Madison event at the 1998 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and the silver medal of Men's Madison at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Roger Ilegems won the gold medal of the Men's point race at the 1984 Summer Olympics while Patrick Sercu held several world records and won the gold medal of the Men's 1 km time trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Read more about this topic: Sport In Belgium
Famous quotes containing the word cycling:
“From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
—Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
“I shall not bring an automobile with me. These inventions infest France almost as much as Bloomer cycling costumes, but they make a horrid racket, and are particularly objectionable. So are the Bloomers. Nothing more abominable has ever been invented. Perhaps the automobile tricycles may succeed better, but I abjure all these works of the devil.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“If all feeling for grace and beauty were not extinguished in the mass of mankind at the actual moment, such a method of locomotion as cycling could never have found acceptance; no man or woman with the slightest aesthetic sense could assume the ludicrous position necessary for it.”
—Ouida [Marie Louise De La Ramée] (1839–1908)